Eric Holder: Voter ID Laws Are 'Poll Taxes'

Eric Holder: Voter ID Laws Are ‘Poll Taxes’

Just like the bad old days

PoliticsJuly 2012 • Views: 33,694

Kudos to Attorney General Eric Holder for telling it like it is about these Republican-sponsored Voter ID laws: Holder Calls Voter ID Laws ‘Poll Taxes’.

No wonder the right wing is trying so hard to take him down.

“Under the proposed law, concealed handgun licenses would be acceptable forms of photo ID, but student IDs would not,” Holder said, referring specifically to the voter ID law passed in Texas. “Many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them, and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. We call those poll taxes.”

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57 comments

freetoken Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:07:03pm

Repeating myself from downstairs:

For those who have not kept up with what longtime and now former National Review writer John Derbyshire is doing lately, he and his friends (e.g., Larry Auster) are adding to his infamous "letter" that finally (after years of doing similar things) got him released from NR.

It's full on racist crap. Really is, as Charles notes of the comments over at WND, Stormfront material.

I believe there still is a great deal of latent racism to be surfaced, especially among the reactionary right. We've not seen the end of it yet.

That the rare cases of actual voter fraud are exploited into full on voter suppression is not surprising, in light of the underlying hatred that exists.

Targetpractice Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:09:45pm

So what if they have to pay to vote? Just weeds out the parasites from the hard-workers!

Charles Johnson Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:11:14pm

Just testin'.

Charles Johnson Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:11:44pm

Once more...

Charles Johnson Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:13:07pm

Got to keep testing..

PhillyPretzel Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:13:09pm

re: #1 freetoken

You got it. There is very little voter fraud. And voter ID is a pound of prevention for an ounce of cure.

Lidane Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:13:41pm

Good for Holder. I'm glad someone is calling this Voter ID shit out for the re-packaged, recycled poll tax garbage that it is.

Let the wingnuts whine. He's right.

William Barnett-Lewis Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:15:34pm

I gotta agree with him. The purpose of these laws is the same as they've ever been and it's good he's saying so in public.

OTOH, I still think he's the weakest link in the Obama administration and hasn't exactly been a good AG for the nation. Hopefully he'll "retire" after November and Obama can find someone better.

moderatelyradicalliberal Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:15:52pm

re: #7 Lidane

Good for Holder. I'm glad someone is calling this Voter ID shit out for the re-packaged, recycled poll tax garbage that it is.

Let the wingnuts whine. He's right.

Especially, if they are going to whine and act crazy anyway. If people are going to hate you no matter what, go ahead and give them a real reason. Is our Democrats leaning?

Killgore Trout Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:18:02pm

re: #7 Lidane

Good for Holder. I'm glad someone is calling this Voter ID shit out for the re-packaged, recycled poll tax garbage that it is.

Let the wingnuts whine. He's right.

If he can get the Supreme Court to agree with him then Bob's your uncle.

Charles Johnson Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:19:46pm

One more time...

Kragar Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:20:32pm

Lets ask the GOP

So a mandate is a tax, but having to pay for the right to vote is not a tax? Is that how that works?

Lidane Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:20:59pm

re: #10 Killgore Trout

You mean the same SCOTUS that just upheld Obamacare and gutted SB 1070?

Charles Johnson Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:21:02pm

Must ... test ... comment ...

freetoken Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:23:42pm

Hehe... The Salem Communications propaganda site known as HotAir struggles to deal with this James Earl Jones interview clip:

Youtube Video

I also understand racism and I have figured out why black vote for Obama.

The Notorious G.O.P on July 10, 2012 at 6:45 PM

HotWingnuts just can't take the Jones' statments - it's as if their brains just can't get what J.E.J. is saying.

bluecheese Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:23:49pm

I was seeing something like 10 percent of voters in PA don't have ID. With 18 percent not having ID in Philly.

Will republicans win PA this year?

Targetpractice Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:23:55pm

re: #12 Kragar

Lets ask the GOP

So a mandate is a tax, but having to pay for the right to vote is not a tax? Is that how that works?

They put their fingers in their ears and go "The ID's free, so it's not a tax!"

freetoken Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:25:57pm

The twist that Allahpundit puts on that J.E.J. interview clip is really mind boggling.

Killgore Trout Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:26:01pm

re: #13 Lidane

You mean the same SCOTUS that just upheld Obamacare and gutted SB 1070?

Yeah, those guys. It seems they've already ruled on voter ID laws.
Supreme Court upholds voter ID law

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can require voters to produce photo identification without violating their constitutional rights, validating Republican-inspired voter ID laws.
...
The law "is amply justified by the valid interest in protecting 'the integrity and reliability of the electoral process,'" Justice John Paul Stevens said in an opinion that was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy. Stevens was a dissenter in Bush v. Gore in 2000.

Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also agreed with the outcome, but wrote separately.

Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented, just as they did in 2000.

PhillyPretzel Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:27:56pm

re: #16 bluecheese

I have no idea. Your guess is as good as mine.

Killgore Trout Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:32:13pm

re: #16 bluecheese

I was seeing something like 10 percent of voters in PA don't have ID. With 18 percent not having ID in Philly.

Will republicans win PA this year?

I'm not sure if those numbers are correct but let's suppose they are. Republicans aren't going to win Philly anyways, nor most other urban centers. They'll do better in the suburbs and rural areas. What they should be concerned about is elderly voters especially in states like Florida. Many of the retirement home crowd won't have driver's licenses and are more likely to lean Republican. It could cost them a lot of votes in areas where they could have won.
I think it's a stupid law on many different levels but as a plan to steal elections I don't think it's going to work very well.

moderatelyradicalliberal Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:32:15pm

I saw some Republican consultant refer to voting as privilege. So in wingnut land owning a gun is a right granted by God and voting is privilege granted by the government. Conservatism. How does it work?

Page 3 in the Binder of Women Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:35:12pm

The Daily Caller is pool tomorrow.
— Ethan Klapper (@ethanklapper) July 10, 2012

Whoo boy, should be interesting. Maybe.

PhillyPretzel Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:36:43pm

re: #21 Killgore Trout

I do not have the numbers but I believe the Amish in Lancaster County do not have Photo ID's. How are they going to vote? This law is wrong on many levels.

Killgore Trout Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:38:47pm

re: #24 PhillyPretzel

I do not have the numbers but I believe the Amish in Lancaster County do not have Photo ID's. How are they going to vote? This law is wrong on many levels.

Good point but I don't think the Amish vote. If they did electronic voting machines would be a problem. Maybe they could fill out absentee ballots if the wanted.

Mattand Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:39:05pm

re: #23 Residence: Hopeandchangeistan 2012

[Embedded content]

Whoo boy, should be interesting. Maybe.

What is "pool tomorrow"?

PhillyPretzel Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:39:47pm

re: #25 Killgore Trout

The Amish do vote the old fashioned way; paper and pencil.

Killgore Trout Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:41:03pm

Ah, they do vote.
The Amish vote

Amish voting rates tend to be low, but when they do vote, it is generally supposed that they favor candidates from the Republican party. In An Amish Paradox Hurst and McConnell note that “An Old Order Amish man, now deceased, used to joke that he could count the Amish who supported Democrats on one hand”

Page 3 in the Binder of Women Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:43:41pm

re: #26 Mattand

What is "pool tomorrow"?

The publication/network who is selected to report the President's activities.

Rather than let all the press come to every event, they pick a "pool" reporter.

Mattand Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:44:50pm

re: #24 PhillyPretzel

I do not have the numbers but I believe the Amish in Lancaster County do not have Photo ID's. How are they going to vote? This law is wrong on many levels.

It was passed for one reason, and one reason only.

PhillyPretzel Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:46:32pm

re: #30 Mattand

Yes. I am well aware of why they did it and I still say it is wrong.

Mattand Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:47:44pm

re: #29 Residence: Hopeandchangeistan 2012

The publication/network who is selected to report the President's activities.

Rather than let all the press come to every event, they pick a "pool" reporter.

Thanks. This might explain why the White House Correspondents’ Association mildy rebuked the idiot from the Daily Caller today. Any actual sanctions would have gotten the Fox News machine all up in arms about the President "censoring" them on the eve of their turn.

Ming Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:49:19pm

re: #16 bluecheese

I was seeing something like 10 percent of voters in PA don't have ID. With 18 percent not having ID in Philly.

Will republicans win PA this year?

The 2012 right-wing voter id initiative could tip one or more swing states, including Pennsylvania.

Look what the butterfly ballot did in Florida, in 2000.

Republicans will take advantage of whatever power they have in the various state governments, and it might swing the election at the presidential level, and also at the congressional level. They obviously aren't shy about doing this.

Mattand Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:49:20pm

re: #31 PhillyPretzel

Yes. I am well aware of why they did it and I still say it is wrong.

Seriously. It's a rare, honest admission from conservatives that they have no qualms about essentially rigging elections this year.

nines09 Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:53:18pm

re: #24 PhillyPretzel

I do not have the numbers but I believe the Amish in Lancaster County do not have Photo ID's. How are they going to vote? This law is wrong on many levels.

Depending on the Sect or Bishop that the Amish obey, not a whole lot have photos period. It's bad Ju Ju. If I am to believe the Amish I used to do biz with in and around Central Pa, there are about 500 Sects as of that conversation 15 years ago.

freetoken Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:54:12pm

DEATH PANELS!!

Or... maybe not:

Legal Euthanasia Didn’t Raise Death Rate, Researchers Say

The percentage of deaths caused by assisted suicide or euthanasia remained about the same in the Netherlands after the country made the practices legal, researchers found.

About 3 percent of all deaths in 2010 were the result of either euthanasia, in which a physician administers lethal drugs at a dying patient’s request, or assisted suicide, where a person ends his life with medication prescribed by a doctor, Dutch researchers wrote today in The Lancet medical journal. That compares with 2.8 percent in 2001, the year before euthanasia became legal.

[...]

bluecheese Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:56:26pm

re: #21 Killgore Trout

I'm not sure if those numbers are correct but let's suppose they are.

here is a source for the numbers.

When the photo ID requirement was moving through the legislature last winter, Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele advised lawmakers that 99 percent of the state's voters already had the necessary identification, most of them through PennDOT.

Tuesday afternoon, the day before the July 4th holiday, her department issued a press release disclosing the results of a computerized match between PennDOT's databases and a database of registered voters.

It showed 758,000 voters statewide – about 9.2 percent – did not have PennDOT-issued ID, either a driver's license or a non-driver photo ID.

In Philadelphia, the numbers were significantly worse, with 18 percent of registered voters not having PennDOT ID.

sooooo, if you live in Philly, your twice as likely to not have the ID needed to vote. Sure is a good thing that "Republicans aren't going to win Philly anyways"..... Right?

Gus Tue, Jul 10, 2012 4:57:44pm

Right wing temper tantrum over James Earl Jones' comments. Clean up on aisle 9.

HappyWarrior Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:00:16pm

[Link: www.washingtonpost.com...]
And yet the gullible American public still bought the Tea Party bullshit about too much taxes. But hey Obama's president so it's okay to act oppressed and overtaxed when you're clearly not. As for the original topic, Holder's absolutely right. It's not popular to say but I am glad he's calling it what it is.

PhillyPretzel Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:01:14pm

re: #37 bluecheese

In Philly Democrats out number Republicans roughly 5 to 1.

Mattand Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:02:59pm

re: #39 HappyWarrior

[Link: www.washingtonpost.com...]
And yet the gullible American public still bought the Tea Party bullshit about too much taxes. But hey Obama's president so it's okay to act oppressed and overtaxed when you're clearly not. As for the original topic, Holder's absolutely right. It's not popular to say but I am glad he's calling it what it is.

I hate saying this, but it's a painful demonstration of how appallingly stupid the American electorate can be.

bluecheese Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:06:13pm

as a point of reference to the 758k voters without id, Obama beat McCain by approximately 600k votes, out of about 6mill cast.

I believe Obama will have a harder go of it this year than 2008, in spite of the changing voter laws.

freetoken Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:07:52pm

Weigel reports:

The Most Orwellian Voter ID Ad You've Ever Seen

as a follow up to his earlier story:

9.2 Percent of Pennsylvania Voters Lack Valid ID

HappyWarrior Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:08:14pm

re: #41 Mattand

I hate saying this, but it's a painful demonstration of how appallingly stupid the American electorate can be.

It really is. I think we as a people are among the most politically impatient out there.

palomino Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:11:59pm

re: #21 Killgore Trout

I'm not sure if those numbers are correct but let's suppose they are. Republicans aren't going to win Philly anyways, nor most other urban centers. They'll do better in the suburbs and rural areas. What they should be concerned about is elderly voters especially in states like Florida. Many of the retirement home crowd won't have driver's licenses and are more likely to lean Republican. It could cost them a lot of votes in areas where they could have won.
I think it's a stupid law on many different levels but as a plan to steal elections I don't think it's going to work very well.

So you've got seniors on one side. On the other are blacks, Hispanics, the poor and the young--combined a much bigger group, and individually less likely to have the proper ID. I'm sure Republicans have done the math and figure they'll gain a lot more than they'll lose.

If you don't think this is an attempt to tip the scales through disenfranchisement, you're very naive. You really don't think Republicans want to win badly enough to do such a thing? They know the demographics of the country are moving against them, and this is their attempt to stop that bleeding.

Page 3 in the Binder of Women Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:13:21pm

re: #45 palomino

Not naive. Not at all. Contrarian.

PhillyPretzel Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:18:44pm

I am sorry it took me a little time to dig up some street lists from my division in Philly. According to the General Election Street list for the 53rd Ward 11th Division there are 51 Republicans and 358 Democrats. Now even with these unfair voter ID laws there are still way more Democrats than Republicans. And if I recall correctly I believe there was only one ward in South Philly that went completely Republican in the last Presidential Election.

Page 3 in the Binder of Women Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:19:09pm

Obama's birth certificate? Fair game. Romney's financials? Insulting intrusion of privacy?
— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) July 10, 2012

palomino Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:19:51pm

re: #46 Residence: Hopeandchangeistan 2012

Not naive. Not at all. Contrarian.

And tediously so.

Where the new laws may actually backfire won't be due to overwhelming numbers of right-leaning seniors without ID. Where it may backfire is in the future: with attempts by the GOP to get a larger share of the votes of blacks, Hispanics, under 30, and the poor. These groups may just get a bit angry at the GOP for effectively disenfranchising disproportionately large numbers of them compared to white mid and upper class voters.

Killgore Trout Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:36:06pm

re: #42 bluecheese

as a point of reference to the 758k voters without id, Obama beat McCain by approximately 600k votes, out of about 6mill cast.

I believe Obama will have a harder go of it this year than 2008, in spite of the changing voter laws.

There's also something else to remember with those numbers. Let's suppose those numbers are correct. 758, 000 without ID. Let's assume that 50% (roughly the national average) of them will actually vote. of the remaining 379,000 let's be generous and give 60% to the Dems. That leaves 227, 400. All of whom can sign an affidavit and vote without ID in a district Dems would probably win anyways. The law sucks but it's very unlikely sway elections much.

kirkspencer Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:52:13pm

re: #47 PhillyPretzel

I am sorry it took me a little time to dig up some street lists from my division in Philly. According to the General Election Street list for the 53rd Ward 11th Division there are 51 Republicans and 358 Democrats. Now even with these unfair voter ID laws there are still way more Democrats than Republicans. And if I recall correctly I believe there was only one ward in South Philly that went completely Republican in the last Presidential Election.

The issue is not Philadelphia local elections. It's state-wide elections.

bluecheese Tue, Jul 10, 2012 5:54:27pm

Killgore, the numbers come from the republican led Secretary of the Commonwealth of PA. Those are of people that are registered to vote.

Of people registered in 2008, 68.7 % voted.

nice to know that you think none of these laws matter anyway.

Have a nice day

Dark_Falcon Tue, Jul 10, 2012 6:37:44pm

re: #7 Lidane

Good for Holder. I'm glad someone is calling this Voter ID shit out for the re-packaged, recycled poll tax garbage that it is.

Let the wingnuts whine. He's right.

No, he isn't. He's just flinging bullshit to try to stir up black voters. A requirement to show ID is not a tax.

palomino Tue, Jul 10, 2012 6:46:18pm

re: #53 Dark_Falcon

No, he isn't. He's just flinging bullshit to try to stir up black voters. A requirement to show ID is not a tax.

Bullshit, Holder is no race-baiter. And your party (you know, the one that has employed the Southern Strategy over the last 45 years) has no leg to stand on when it comes to appealing to white resentment or making it more difficult for blacks, other minorities and the poor to vote. Remember motor voter laws? How did your beloved GOP feel about those?

For a long time we've known that the gop does better with low turnout. Why would you think your party is suddenly a bastion of morality that wouldn't consider laws to decrease turnout?

CarleeCork Tue, Jul 10, 2012 8:09:39pm

re: #3 Charles Johnson

Evolution in progress.....survival of the richest.

SanFranciscoZionist Tue, Jul 10, 2012 9:41:26pm

re: #25 Killgore Trout

Good point but I don't think the Amish vote. If they did electronic voting machines would be a problem. Maybe they could fill out absentee ballots if the wanted.

Some Amish do vote, while others think it's worldly. And electronic voting machines would not be a problem. The Amish don't own such things, but they don't think of them as inherently sinful. If they have them in the polling place, the Amish will use them.

Dustoff848 Wed, Jul 11, 2012 9:18:09am

I'm not condoning why the Republicans want to institute the voter ID law, but not sure why everyone thinks having to actually prove who you are before you vote is a bad thing? I've had to show my license to the nice old woman at the polling place every year before she crosses off my name and hands me a ballot. I don't think voter fraud is rampant, but proving who you are before voting in your town seems like a pretty basic requirement whether you are a Republican or a Democrat.

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